The Pakistan Super League sprang a big surprise this year as two-time champions Lahore Qalandars got knocked out of the race for the play-offs after a disastrous league campaign.
Led by Pakistan's star pacer and captain Shaheen Afridi, Qalandars struggled throughout the season, managing just one win and suffering eight defeats, with their much vaunted pace attack missing their mark more often than not.
Sunday capped a miserable season for them as Quetta Gladiators sealed a play-off spot after all-rounder Mohammad Wasim smashed Afridi for a last-ball six to hand Qalandars a six-wicket defeat.
Victory for Quetta also eliminated Karachi Kings (8 points) from the play-offs race as they can now only rise to 10 points after their final league phase game. Karachi are captained by Pakistan's Test captain Shan Masood.
Along with Quetta, Multan Sultans (12 points), Islamabad United (11) and Peshawar Zalmi (11) also advanced.
On Sunday, opener Saud Shakeel anchored Quetta’s run chase of 167 with an unbeaten 88 off 65 balls that included two successive boundaries against Afridi (2-41) in the final over before Wasim smacked Lahore's captain over mid-wicket for the winning runs.
Left-arm fast bowler Jahandad Khan (2-30) had halted Quetta’s chase in the first half of the innings with the wickets of Jason Roy (18) and captain Rilee Rossouw (13) before Shakeel and Khawaja Nafay (26) put on a 70-run stand.
It was a poor outing with the ball for Afridi, who had earlier hit 55 after promoting himself to number five – something which he has been doing regularly – in the batting order as Lahore made 166-4 after choosing to bat first.
Lahore sorely missed star spinner Rashid Khan, who got injured, and the pace of Haris Rauf.
In the earlier match, Colin Munro and captain Shadab Khan led Islamabad's excellent run-chase against Multan as the two-time former champions qualified for the play-offs in a high-scoring game in Rawalpindi.
Munro hit 84 off 40 balls and Shadab added 54 off 31 before Imad Wasim made a crucial unbeaten 30 to power Islamabad to 232-7 for a three-wicket win in their last league game.
Earlier, Usman Khan hit his second successive century in the tournament as his unbeaten 100 off 50 balls helped Multan post 228-4 after Shadab chose to field.
Usman smashed 15 fours and three sixes and shared two solid half-century stands with Johnson Charles (42) and Iftikhar Ahmed (13).
The scintillating form of Usman will be followed keenly by Pakistan and the UAE as the batsman had earlier said that he was keen to represent the latter in international cricket and not the country of his birth.
